


Flash

by righteousbros



Series: Tattoo Shop 'Verse [5]
Category: Supernatural RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Tattoo Parlor, Comeplay, Established Relationship, Frottage, Hurt Jensen Ackles, Jealousy, M/M, Spit As Lube, Tattoo Artist Jared
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-27
Updated: 2014-01-19
Packaged: 2018-01-06 09:53:08
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 15,582
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1105403
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/righteousbros/pseuds/righteousbros
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jensen has been out of town for a few days and Jared's been missing him like crazy.  It's just his luck that his former boss/ex-boyfriend Jeff decides to drop into the shop for a visit on the same day that Jensen's due back in town.  What could possibly go wrong?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

 

Over the steady buzz of Jared’s tattoo gun he hears his client hiss through her teeth when his needle hits a particularly sensitive spot on her ribs.

“Sorry,” he says quickly.  “Do you need a break?”

“No.  I’m okay.”  Her response is a little too thin and a little too hurried.   She’s clearly trying to power through the pain.

Jared respects that so he lets her.  He’s experienced enough to be able to gauge people’s reserves for this kind of thing and Alyson is tiny but she’s tough enough to handle it.

His mind wanders a little as he continues on with his work.  He can’t help it.  Sometimes when he’s really in the zone with a tattoo like he is now his hands just take over and is brain is free to meander off towards other things.

Of course the path his brain keeps circling back to is Jensen.

He’s been gone a whole week this time, on the road with Chris and Steve’s band doing a mini-tour of their home state of Virginia.  Just a couple of bars and a mid-sized music festival that The Winchesters have become a regular feature of.  Jensen’s been singing with them more and more lately so when they asked him to join them this year he didn’t make them beg as much as he normally does to get him to perform.  Jared still told him that he was being a prima donna.  Jensen promptly put him in a headlock and mussed up his hair.

It’s the longest that Jared’s been apart from him since they got together.  Maybe since even longer than that, but who can be sure with a complicated history like theirs of best friends becoming lovers.  He never actually uses that word around Jensen.  _Lovers_.  It makes him twitchy.  _Boyfriends_ seems immature and doesn’t really cover enough ground for what Jensen is to him.  He thinks about making up a new word just for them, then hears the sound of Jensen’s voice inside his head telling him that he’s a giant vagina and he has to bite his lip to keep from smiling so big and goofy that Alyson will notice.

Jensen’s coming home today and Jared is anxious to see him.  They’ve been talking on the phone when they can but it’s not the same as having him there.  He’s glad that Jensen is spreading his wings a little and investing more time into something that makes him happy, despite Jensen’s protests that he doesn’t want or need the attention.  Jared notices the difference it’s made even if Jensen doesn’t want to acknowledge it.  It’s made him more self-confident and little more outgoing.  At ease with himself in a way that Jared has never seen him be before.  So maybe Jared has to deal with being apart from him a little more now for practice sessions and for the gigs that are too far from Austin for him to make it to without missing work the next day.  He handles it all willingly for how happy it makes Jensen.  And for how _enthusiastic_ their reunions are.  The last time Jensen came home from an overnight trip to a show in Albuquerque they ended up breaking a lamp.

For the first three days that Jensen’s been gone Jared actually enjoyed having the condo to himself for a change.  There was no one stealing the covers from him in bed and no one grabbed at his ass while he was trying to do his morning yoga.  He stayed up all night painting with no to scold him for not getting enough sleep and no one made fun of him when he listened to his Andrea Bocelli playlist while fixing himself dinner.  What?  It’s soothing, okay?

On the fourth day of waking up to an empty bed and an empty house Jared started to feel the loneliness set in.  He rarely felt that way back when he lived alone with just himself and his dogs to keep him company at the end of the day, but he felt it now like a slowly expanding hollowness inside him. 

He did his best to fill it up with work.  They were short-handed with Chris and Steve gone and the other artists having to take up their slack, but that only took care of his daytime hours.  Danneel stopped by in the evening to keep him company with takeout Thai food and a Ewan McGregor movie that she promised included some full frontal.  She was missing Chris so it only made sense for them to commiserate together.  It was really sweet of her and Jared actually enjoyed himself.  Then she went home for the night and he was alone in his bed again which suddenly felt crowded by the enormous lack of Jensen in it. 

He ended up calling the dogs and patting the mattress for them to come join him, hoping that their familiar warmth would be a good enough band-aid on the situation.  Harley and Sadie were so excited to be breaking the household taboo that they were wiggling down into the covers almost instantly.  Jensen really didn’t like them sleeping on the bed.  He’d make a big show of shoo-ing them off even though everyone involved, human and canine alike,  knew that they’d sneak up onto the bed once Jensen and Jared were dead asleep and couldn’t stop them.  Jared would have to remember to change the sheets before Jensen got home just to be sure there was no telltale trace of fur on them but at least he was able to sleep okay at night.

Now finally, Jensen was on his way home.  He had called yesterday morning to say that they were getting on the road and barring a few stops for food and gas for Steve’s van they should rolling into town around four o’clock that afternoon.  Jared knows he’s probably going to be exhausted from the marathon drive but he’s looking forward to getting Jensen home and naked as fast as humanly possible.  Jerking himself off in the shower just isn’t cutting it now that he’s gotten spoiled by the feel of Jensen biting, licking, sucking, and fucking him into oblivion on a regular basis.  Jared could feel his dick chubbing up a little in interest just thinking about it so he forces his mind back onto the task at hand.  He’s got another hour at least before Jensen gets back and he can do anything about it anyway.

He finishes up with Alyson’s tattoo to her great relief and she’s ecstatically happy with it.  The cherry blossoms that wind their way up her left side on spindly thin branches are a pretty shade of pink and delicate looking, like a strong enough wind could blow them away any second.  He’s pretty pleased with it too.  He wraps her up and gives her instructions on the aftercare before sending her on her way. 

Jared makes brisk work of cleaning up his station, Steve’s actually – he’s taken to working in the main area of the shop instead of his office just to have the extra company of the other artists.  He’s nearly finished when the chimes above the front door ring and he swivels his stool around to see the person walking in.  His stomach does an Olympic-worthy somersault when he sees that it’s the shop’s former owner, Jeff Morgan.

Jeff zeroes in on him right away even as Danneel greets him at the front desk where she’s been covering for Jensen.  “Jared,” he says with a broad smile.  “How’s it hanging, kiddo?”

Jared is pole-axed, jaw popped open in shock.  It takes a second for his brain to relay the message to his body to do _something_ other than gawk for Christ’s sake, but when it finally happens he goes over to Jeff on slightly wobbly legs to say hello like a proper human being.

“Jeff,” he says, extending him his hand with a disbelieving grin.  “Holy shit, man.  This is a surprise.”

Jeff ignores his hand and goes right in for a bear-hug that almost knocks the wind out of him.  “Good to see you too,” he chuckles heartily.

Jared can feel the deep vibration of the laugh in his chest where it’s pressed against his own and the scratch-tickle of Jeff’s beard against the side of his face.  It does something to his insides that he can’t really define and makes him a little uncomfortable.

He pulls out of Jeff’s hug and takes an awkward step back.  “Sorry.  You kinda caught me a little off guard here.  I-I didn’t know that you were coming.”

Jeff shoves his hands into his pockets and gives Jared a fond little smile like he’s the same nineteen-year-old kid that Jeff begrudgingly allowed to apprentice for him.  “I’m just here in town picking up a car so I thought I’d stop by and check in on you.  See how everything was going.”  He scans his eyes around the shop, making a show of taking in all the changes that have been made since Jared bought him out and made Jensen his partner.  “You’ve been busy.  I almost didn’t recognize the place.”

Jared has this irrational guilty feeling like he’s been caught joy-riding in his dad’s car.  Which is completely ridiculous because it’s his place now goddamn it and has been for years.  Ever since Jeff took off for LA and left Jared to run their business on his own.  He shouldn’t feel like he has to justify anything to Jeff about it now but for some reason he still does.

“Yeah, we did some updating.”  Jared’s suddenly acutely aware that they’re in the middle of the shop floor and even though Misha, Danneel, and Chad are conspicuously busy with their own work he can still feel their eyes on him.  He’d bet money that they’re listening in too.  They were all his hires after he took over the shop so they’ve never met Jeff but they know all about him and how the two of them used to date.  He shakes off the awkward tension he feels, certain that it’s probably all in his own head.  Overanalyzing again.  There’s no need for any of this to be weird, right?  “Hey guys,” he says, raising his voice enough to draw their attention over the whir of the tattoo machines, “I want you to meet somebody.  This is the infamous Jeff Morgan.  Vintage car guru and the former proprietor of this sorry place.  If it wasn’t for him I’d probably be some boring architect like my parent’s always wanted me to be and none of us would be here right now.”

“I don’t know if I’d go that far,” Jeff says looking a little ‘aw-shucks’ embarrassed.

Jared continues on with the introductions.  “Jeff, that’s Misha, that’s Chad, and this is Danneel.  She’s our resident piercing expert.  Anything you want to poke a hole through, she’s your girl.”

Misha and Chad each give him a nod and a little wave of hello with sterile-gloved hands, unable to get up at the moment because they’re both in the middle of a session with their respective clients.  Danneel is free however so she comes around the desk to shake Jeff’s hand.

“Nice to meet you, finally,” she says to him.  “Jared’s told us so much about you.  So you’re here for a car?”

“Yeah, a 1941 Ford Coupe,” Jeff informs her.  “I’ve got a guy back in LA who’s willing to pay top dollar for me to restore it and customize it for him.”

“You’re not going to drive it all the way back to California are you?” she asks.

“Nah, you don’t want to put all those miles on a car like that,” Jared jumps in.  He’s spent enough time around Jeff’s business that he knows the process by heart.  “Usually they have it shipped on a truck to Jeff’s garage and he takes it from there.  He’ll put in a new engine, gauges, chrome details, new upholstery and give it a fresh coat of paint.”

“That’s right.”  Jeff smiles at him like he’s a prized pupil before he turns back to Danneel.  “I’m just here to fork over the cash and supervise when they load it up.  I don’t usually bother coming out for something like this - just a straightforward sale - but when I found out that the seller was here in Austin I just couldn’t pass up the chance to visit my old stomping grounds.”

“Well, you picked a good time to stop in,” Dani says glancing at her watch.  “The rest of the crew is on their way back right now.  Should be here real soon, actually.”

“The rest?” Jeff asks, shooting Jared a questioning look over her head.

“Yeah, you remember Chris and Steve, right?  They’re still here.   Just on the road with their band for a few days,” Jared says.  “And Jensen of course.”

“Jensen went with them?”

“He sings with band.”

“Jensen sings?”  Jeff acts as if Jared had told him that Jensen had sprouted wings.  “Jensen Ackles?  Singing?  As in singing in front of people?

“Yes!” Dani exclaims excitedly.  “Oh, you should hear him.  He’s got such a great voice.  And when he’s on stage - I swear that boy could melt butter just by winking at it.”

Jared is halfway mortified on Jensen’s behalf for the way Danneel is gushing about him even though privately he completely agrees with her.   “Dani-“

“Well, well,” Jeff smirks down at her, ignoring the scolding tone in the way Jared says her name.  “What do you know.  I never would have picked Jensen as the type for that sort of thing.  I guess Jared’s been good influence on him, huh?  Pulling him out of his shell.”  He glances over at Jared with a knowing look in his eye.

“Yeah, I guess so.”  Dani giggles.

Jared feels his cheeks flush and his mouth twists into a slight frown at his own reaction.  It’s been years and years since him and Jeff were together.  Jeff is sporting a few more wrinkles now and his beard has gone all salt and pepper but underneath he’s still Jared’s first love.  There’s no changing that.  But Jared’s not that innocent young kid anymore.  He understands now like he didn’t then how their relationship really worked.  Or didn’t work for that matter.  He should be bitter about how Jeff treated him but here he is hanging on the man’s every word and blushing like a virgin under his steady gaze. 

He’s got to pull himself together.

“Hey Jeff, why don’t we take this into the office?  It’s quieter in there,” he suggests.  Jared doesn’t particularly want an audience for the kinds of questions that he wants to ask.  He’s curious to know why Jeff really felt the urge to “check in” on him and the shop.  It’s been at least five years, maybe more, since they’d broken up and Jeff had left Austin.  He hadn’t wanted much of anything to do with the business since, even when he was still a silent partner.  Now he wasn’t even that.  And all of a sudden he’d flown into town with the flimsy excuse of babysitting a car and apparently looking for a trip down memory lane?  There had to be more to Jeff’s story.

They left Danneel to mind the front desk and Jared led the way back through the shop, trying hard not to remember how many times he’d been on his knees in that very office for the man.  He took a seat at the desk, glad for the subtle reminder to them both that it was in fact his office now – not Jeff’s.

Jeff perches one hip up on the tattoo bench Jared keeps in there for his private sessions, making himself right at home.  “You’ve got a pretty full shop nowadays, don’t you?” he begins, leaning casually towards Jared.  “That’s what, five artists including yourself and a full time piercer?”

“We’ve certainly got enough work coming in for everyone and then some.” Jared says, with no small amount of pride.  He’s worked damn hard to get Skin Deep the kind of recognition and following that it has.

“I can see that,” Jeff replies easily.  “You’ve done a great job with this place.”

Jared can practically hear the wheels in Jeff’s head turning.  “But?”

“But nothing.  It’s just - I know how you are, Jay.  If you’re this busy already and you’ve got half your staff running off to play part-time rockstars then you’ve got to be spreading yourself pretty thin.”

“It’s not like that,” Jared protests.  “Chris and Steve don’t go out of town all that often really.  And the rest of us are holding things down just fine.”

“See, that’s your problem right there.  You talk as if you’re just another artist here.  You might have started that way kid, but you’re the boss now.  There’s no reason that you should have to work as hard as the rest of them.  That’s one of the perks of being management isn’t it?” 

“Well, Jensen helps take the pressure off,” Jensen says, feeling a little defensive now.  “He keeps everything running so I don’t have to worry about the business stuff.”  _Usually_ , his traitorous mind supplies.

“And I’m sure he does a great job at it,” Jeff is quick to say.  “But he’s not an artist, is he?  He can’t share that part of the load even if he wanted to.  All I’m saying is, what’s the point of being your own boss if you can’t take the time to enjoy the profits?  Take it from me.  I learned the hard way.”

Well that was definitely a change.  Jeff used to like to blame the demise of his marriage on his ex-wife being a raging bitch.  He never wanted to hear the fact that the blame might more rightfully fall on him and all the hours he divided between the tattoo shop and his custom car business.   The only reason Jared got to see him as much as he did when they were dating was because they literally worked side by side.  Looking back at it now with the benefit of hindsight must have changed his perspective on things a little.  Maybe Jeff actually had a valid point.

“What do you suggest?” he heard himself ask.

“What about taking on an apprentice?  It sure as hell worked for me,” Jeff says with an affectionate grin.  “Who knows?  Maybe you’ll find your own diamond-in-the-rough.”

Huh.  He never really considered that before.  It’s not like he hadn’t had inquiries over the years since he’d taken over the shop.  Twice he’d had a young wannabe tattoo artist come into the shop asking about working with him but he never had the time or the inclination.  Selfishly, he hadn’t wanted to take on anyone that he thought might compromise the standard of work his customers had come to expect.

“I don’t know…” he says hesitantly.

“Think about it,” Jeff says, latching onto the idea.  “You could take more walk-ins that way.  Appeal to a whole different clientele.  All you’d have to do is put some flash up on the walls for people to pick from and then your guy basically just has to follow the stencil.  Your average cookie-cutter college kid will eat that kind of shit up.  Especially if they can get their little slice of rebellion at a cheaper rate then the custom jobs.”

That was one of the huge differences between Jeff and Jared.  Always had been.  Jeff had an almost fanatical devotion to the bygone era of old school tattoo culture, “when getting inked up meant something” as he liked to say.  When the only people who had tattoos were bikers, sailors, and ex-cons.  When it meant that you were a badass and a rebel and you didn’t give a shit what the mainstreamers thought about you.  He’s cynical about what the subculture has become in recent years now that attitudes for the most part have changed and tattoos are becoming more and more ubiquitous.  The artist in him knows quality work when he sees it but the businessman in him doesn’t have any qualms about capitalizing on the kind of stuff that he considers to be little better than trendy commodities.  

Jared’s never agreed with Jeff’s philosophy, but that doesn’t mean that his idea of hiring an apprentice is completely off base.  They could use the help around the shop.  And it would be nice to take a vacation every once in a while.

“We’ll see,” he says finally, tabling the topic for the moment.  “So come on, spill.”  He nudges Jeff’s booted foot with his own and gives him a conspiratorial look.  “I know you better than to fall for that crap about the Coupe.  You never go to pick up a car in person when you can get the job done with a few phone calls.  What are you really doing here?”

The gleam in Jeff’s eyes dims a bit and he sighs.  “Karen and I aren’t working out as well as I hoped,” he admits with a shrug.  “I just needed a break you know.  Get out of town for day or so and let everything…cool off a bit.”

Oh, so that’s it.  Karen was why Jeff relocated his custom car business to LA.  She’d moved there with her daughter so she could be near family after their divorce.  That also meant she was the reason Jeff gave up his controlling interest in the tattoo shop and, consequently, Jared.  Hearing that his attempts at reconciliation with her have apparently hit the rocks brings up all sorts of mixed emotions that Jared really doesn’t know how to deal with.  The broken-hearted twenty-four year old that he once was wants to feel pretty smug about it, but luckily the adult he is now wins out. 

“I’m sorry, man.  That’s rough,” he says with all the compassion he can muster.  “You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.”  If he’s being honest with himself he really doesn’t want to hear about her even though he’ll listen if that’s what Jeff needs.  It’s what he would do for any of his friends.

“The first couple of years or so after I moved back was great,” Jeff says wistfully.  “It was like we were newlyweds again.  But lately.”  Jeff lets out a short rueful laugh.  “Not so much.”

Jared doesn’t know quite how to respond and Jeff must sense it with how quickly he seems to shake himself out of his melancholy.  In the flash, his sly smile is firmly back in place.  “What can you do, right?  It’ll work itself out or it won’t.  Besides, you don’t want to hear about my bullshit.  How are things going with you and Jensen?”

“Good.  Great, actually,” Jared says with a blink of surprise as he tries to keep up with Jeff’s seemingly mercurial mood.  “We’ve been living together for about eight months now.”

“Oh,” Jeff says.  He’s the one who looks surprised now.  “I didn’t know you guys were a thing.  When I said you and Jensen I meant as business partners.  When did this all happen?”

Shit.  That’s right.  He hadn’t exactly told Jeff about them.

When Jared had bought out Jeff’s half of the business he’d only told him that he intended on asking Jensen to help him run it.  He hadn’t mentioned the other side of their relationship at the time because it was all still pretty new and he didn’t want to jinx it.  That, and also because he wasn’t sure how Jeff would take the news.   Even though Jeff and Jensen had been civil enough with each other when Jeff was their boss, the two of them had never really clicked and the feeling was mutual on both sides.

“W-well,” Jared began, floundering a little for how to explain.  “It’s been a little over a year now technically but I guess even before that-“

“Jay!  You in there?  The traffic was- _holy shit_.”

Jared jolts in his chair at the sound of his name in that familiar rich tone of voice and whirls around to see Jensen standing in the doorway of his office.  He can’t really see Jensen’s eyes through his sunglasses but from the expression on his face he’s looking right past him at Jeff as if he was seeing a ghost.

“Jensen.” Jared sighs his name on a swell of emotion that he feels right down to the soles of his shoes.   He’s never been happier to see anyone in his life.  Jensen looks a little thinner, a little scruffier than usual like he maybe hadn’t bothered to shave in the week he was away, which is just unfair because somehow it makes him look even sexier.  It takes a second for Jensen’s stunned silence to register but when it does Jared realizes how tense he is and immediate tries to defuse the situation.  He plasters on a bright smile for Jeff’s benefit and tries to sound as upbeat as he can.  “Check it out,” he says, “Look who stopped in for a visit.”

“Good to see you again, Jensen,” Jeff says a little stiffly.  “We were just talking about you.”

Before Jensen can reply, Chris and Steve come passing through the hallway behind him from the back entrance of the shop.  Chris catches sight of Jeff over Jensen’s shoulder and stops short, making Steve knock into him.

“Jeff?  Is that you man?” Chris exclaims, shouldering past Jensen into the office.

“Kane!”  Jeff grins and straightens to clasp Chris’s hand and give him a hearty pat on the back.  “How’s it going?”  The difference between his reaction to seeing Chris and the cool tone he used with Jensen is glaringly.

As soon as he sees what all the excitement is about Steve is crowding into the small office right behind Chris.  “Hey, Jeff!  Long time no see.”

The three of them start in on the business of catching up with each other and Jared nearly has to stand on his tiptoes to see around them in the confined space in order to catch a glimpse of Jensen who’s still lingering in the doorway.

Jensen locks eyes with him for a moment behind the safety of his sunglasses and gives him a tight smile that’s really closer to a grimace.  He catches Steve’s attention with a hand on his arm and after exchanging a few words, Steve hands him his car keys.  Jensen shoves them in his pocket, gives Jared one more quick glance, and heads off in the direction of the back door. 

Jared calls after him but his voice is lost in Jeff’s booming laugh over something that Chris says.

A second later he’s trying to elbow his way through to the door to follow after him when Jared feels his phone vibrate in his pocket.  A quick look tells him that the text is from Jensen.

_I’m beat.  Going home to unpack.  Probably go to bed early.  Will I c u later?_

Jensen’s question is what really makes Jared’s heart sink.  Of course they’ll see each other later!  He’d planned on getting home as soon as he possibly could, not wanting to waste a minute that he could be spending with Jensen on his first night back.  After a week apart there’s nowhere else he wants to be.  That Jensen is even wondering about that fact enough to ask, right on the heels of him seeing Jeff-freaking-Morgan in Jared’s office is definitely not a coincidence.

Jared can already tell that he’s in for a long night ahead of him if that’s where Jensen’s head is at.  He sighs, mentally kissing any chance he might have had at getting laid in the immediate future goodbye. 

Looks like the bedroom lamp is safe for at least another night.


	2. Chapter 2

It isn’t until after Jeff leaves for his hotel and then another two hours after that because of a random walk-in client that Jared is able to finally take off for the day. 

Jeff had said that he was going to go check on the car that he was arranging to be shipped but that when he was done he wanted to take the whole shop crew out for dinner at Viva Taqueria, a local Mexican restaurant that was one of his old favorites.  Of course the mention of free food was met with enthusiasm all around.  Jared evaded, saying that he had to run it by Jensen first.  He was pretty sure that Jensen wouldn’t be at all interested in hanging out with everyone tonight, especially Jeff.  Chad had several colorful comments about him being whipped and his complete lack of balls but Jared didn’t give a damn.  He just wanted to get home. 

Now, walking in the front door of their condo, he really doesn’t know what to expect. 

“Jensen?” he calls out as he shuts the door behind him.  “You home?”

Harley and Sadie come trotting up to greet him with their nails clicking on the hardwood floor.  Their tongues are lolling out and their tails are wagging happily but there is no Jensen along with them.  Jared bends down to give them a few affectionate pats.  “Hey you two. Where are you hiding my guy?”

As lovable as his babies are, they aren’t exactly reliable sources of intel so Jared kicks off his shoes and goes looking for him on his own.  The dogs don’t bother following him which means that Jensen must have been home to feed them at some point.  That’s encouraging at least.

He turns the corner into the livingroom, noticing the left over carton of noodles he’d put in the fridge last night now sitting out on the coffee table and the TV left on with the sound muted.  Even so, the room seems otherwise vacant. 

“Jensen?”

A second later all the air is knocked out of his lungs when he’s yanked backward by a firm hand on his shoulder and slammed against the wall with a thud.  Before he’s able to summon the brainpower to put two words together Jensen is pressed against him from stem to sternum, devouring his mouth in a punishing kiss.  He can’t move, can’t think, can’t process anything but the feel of Jensen’s body under his hands and the taste of him on his tongue.  As the initial kiss melds into another and another, one more desperate and demanding than the last, Jared can feel Jensen’s erection rubbing against his thigh and his own cock starts to harden quickly in response.  It isn’t long before he’s moaning into Jensen’s mouth and rutting against him like some horny teenager.  He doesn’t usually like to play too rough but for some reason right now it’s really turning his crank and it feels like exactly what they both need.

“Mine,” Jensen growls against his lips.  “All mine.”  His fingers tangle themselves into Jared’s hair and hold.

His words sink into Jared’s heart, lighting him up from the inside and forcing a moan from this throat.  This is what he’d been missing.  That connection, that spark that only Jensen seems to ignite in him.  He’s probably ruined forever now for anyone else because no one can make him feel like this.  And that’s perfectly fucking fine by him.

Jensen drops his hands to his belt and tugs the buckle open, nipping at Jared’s chin.  “Turn around.”  It’s not a request.

Jared turns without hesitation, pressing his chest into the wall and arching his back so that his hips are canted out, ass shamelessly on display. 

Jensen makes quick work of his pants, yanking down Jared’s as well so that they pool around his ankles.  Bare from the waist down, he reaches around and takes Jared’s cock in his hand, spreading the precome leaking from its slit down to slick the way as he begins a steady stroking rhythm.

“Jen,” Jared gasps, tossing his head back.  The hand on his cock feels amazing, gripping him with firm pressure and thumbing over the sensitive skin of his glans. 

Jensen’s free hand gropes Jared’s left buttcheek, holding him open as he lets a glob of spit fall from his mouth, landing with a splat dead center into the cleft of Jared’s ass.  Jared can feel it drip down to slick over his hole.  It’s nasty and dirty in an unreasonably hot way.  The thick length of Jensen’s cock slides over his pucker, fucking between the firm rounds of his ass and Jared presses back into it, focusing on the barrage of sensations that are clouding his mind with a thick haze.  He didn’t know Jensen could be like this and it thrills him somewhere down deep and dark inside.

Jensen thrusts against him, groaning with pleasure.  “Fuck, yeah.  Been thinking about this all day.  Can you feel that, Jay?  That’s what you do to me.”  He sinks his teeth into the top of Jared’s shoulder, laving over the mark he leaves there with his tongue.

“Jen.  Fuck!  Please.”  Jared doesn’t even know what he’s asking for but he’s sure that Jensen has the answer.  He thrusts forward, wantonly fucking into the fist on his dick that’s bringing him closer and closer to the edge of sanity. 

Jensen rides his ass, holding onto his hip with a bruising grip.  “Come on, come on,” he urges.  “Want you to come, baby.  Come for me.”

The tickling heat of his breath whispering in Jared’s ear and the clever twist of his wrist wind the orgasm building at the base of Jared’s spine to the breaking point.  Less than a minute later he's coming in hot spurts all over Jensen’s fist and the wall in front of him. 

“Yes!” he cries out, humping Jensen’s fist through the sharp crest of climax.  “Oh god, yes!”

Jensen fucks against him wildly, coming all over the small of Jared’s back with a desperate whine that’s half-swallowed in his throat.  Jared leans heavily against the wall, too drunk on his own endorphins to be of much help.

When it's over, Jensen rests his head against the nape of Jared’s neck and closes his eyes on a shaky sigh.  “Missed you, baby.  Drove me nuts thinking about you and not being able to touch you.”  He kisses the knob of Jared’s spine, dragging his fingers lazily through the mess of come on Jared’s back, smearing patterns into his skin.  “Then I saw you with _him_ and I just...,” he nipped and sucked at the mark he’d made before, deepening the angry red color.

Jared whimpers a little at the sting but his mind was floating somewhere above his body on a cloud of post-orgasmic bliss.  Distantly he registers that the pattern Jensen is drawing with his fingertips isn’t so random.  It’s his initials, “JA”, written over and over again like he’s branding Jared as his property.  The meaning of that hits Jared full-force and he’s so turned on by it that he shudders hard, pressing back against Jensen with an automatic buck of his hips even though they’re both too fucked out to do anything about it.

Whether it’s the noise he makes or the jolt of his body that gets misinterpreted, possibly both, his reaction seems to shake Jensen out of his stupor like a splash of cold water.

“Shit.” Jensen backs away from him quickly, stumbling a little with his pants still tangled up around his ankles.  “Shit, shit, shit.”  He yanks them up before he trips on them and tucks his flaccid cock inside his boxer briefs.  “I’m sorry.  I’m so sorry, Jay.”

Confused, Jared turns around and sees that Jensen’s eyes are wide and panicked.  He doesn’t have the faintest idea as to what just changed from one moment to the next.  “What?”

Jensen points at the mark on Jared’s shoulder.  “Look what I did to you.  I did _that_.”  His face is pale and his expression one of mild shock.  “I pretty much assaulted you.”

“Hey, easy easy,” Jared hushes him, pulling Jensen into hug.  “It’s okay.  You didn’t _assault_ me.  You went a little caveman is all.  I’m not hurt.  Not really.  And you didn’t do anything that I didn’t want you to.”

“Are you sure?  Fuck, I don’t know what the hell got into me.  I’m not this guy.”

“Jensen, it’s okay.  Look.”  Jared releases him to point at the wet stains of his come on the wall.  “Clearly I was enjoying myself.”

Jensen glances around Jared’s shoulder at the evidence and something in his face changes.  Goes hard and stony.  “Me… _using_ you like that.  That got you off?  Is that what you want?”

Jared’s so thrown by the shift in conversation that his actually jaw drops.  “No!” he exclaims.  “I don’t know.  I liked it obviously but…the point is I didn’t _not_ want it.  You weren’t using me.  I wouldn’t call it that.  It’s not like you were-“  Jared cuts himself before he can say it out loud.  He’s starting to understand the reason Jensen is so upset and it rocks him to his core. 

Jeff.  That’s awfully close to how it used to be like all the time with Jeff.

If Jensen makes the same connection he’s not letting on.  He shakes his head, averting Jared’s eyes, and finishes zipping himself up.  “Whatever tickles your pickle, man.  I’m not trying to judge.  I’m just…sorry,” he says, pointing again at Jared’s shoulder.  “Why don’t you go shower up.  I’ll take care of the wall.”  He walks off into the kitchen without waiting for Jared to respond to hunt down the cleaning products. “I got a text from Chris,” he calls out, his voice light and casual like nothing happened as he roots around in the cabinet under the sink.  “He told me about dinner tonight.  Free Mexican?  Hell yeah.  I told him we’d go.  Cause, you know, it would be pretty weird if we didn’t since everyone else is.  Hope that’s cool.”

Jared looks down at himself.  He’s half-naked, covered in come, and somehow he just got roped into having what might just be the most awkward meal of his life.  Fan-fucking-tastic.

“Uh, y-yeah,” he replies at a complete loss.  He pulls up his pants with a sigh.  “Cool.”

~~~

A few hours later at the restaurant, Jared is pleasantly surprised at how well the evening seems to be going.  He might actually be enjoying himself if the situation was different and he wasn’t so distracted with other thoughts.  Under the glow of festive colored lanterns dangling from the ceiling, Jensen, Chris, and Steve are regaling everyone with the stories of their trip.  Even though Jared’s heard some of them already from his phone calls to Jensen he listens attentively now to get a gauge on Jensen’s mood.  He seems to be in high spirits which is honestly freaking Jared out a bit.  He’s got to be feeling some kind of way about the incident that happened before at their place and Jeff’s presence right across the table from them can’t be helping matters.  Still Jensen has been nothing but friendly and polite, which is great and all, but at the moment Jared just finds it unnerving.

The meal is dragging long since no one is especially interested in calling it a night as long as the margaritas are still flowing and Jeff’s tab is still open.  Chris has got Danneel tucked under one arm and he’s gesticulating with his bottle of Corona as he tells them about a particularly persistent fan that showed up for their performance at the music festival.

“This girl was climbing over people trying to get on stage.  I think she had a mind to get her claws into our boy here,” he boasts with a wink Jensen’s way.  “Finally we had to call security to come take her down.”

“Shit, I gotta learn how to play guitar or sing or something,” Chad says with awe.  “Chicks always give it up for the lead singer.”

“No way, man,” Jensen laughs.  “I still say she was headed straight for Chris.”

“I’d scratch her eyes out,” Dani informs them all cheerily, planting a smacking kiss on Chris’s cheek.

Chris arches an eyebrow at her but there is a smirk playing at the corner of his mouth.  “Somehow I don’t doubt that for a second.”

Jeff is watching them with a rueful smile.  “I gotta say, Kane,” he says to Chris, “I never thought I’d see the day when you’d settle down.”  He sends a nod to Dani.  “You must be quite a girl.”

“She’s something else alright,” Chris grins proudly, earning him a light punch in the ribs from Danneel.

“Well I’m happy for you both,” Jeff says, the look in his eyes going a little distant.  He stands, picking up his empty glass.  “I don’t know where the heck our waitress has gone to but I’m going for another round,” he announces.  “Everybody in?”

Of course everyone is, with the exception of Steve and his wife who have to get home before their daughter drives the babysitter completely up the wall.  They take off after doling out a series of quick hugs around the table.  Steve even leaves Chris with a loud kiss on the cheek in a spot on imitation of the one Dani gave him.  Chris is still pretending to gag and rub it vigorously off his face when Jeff turns to Jared and asks him for help carrying the drinks back to the table.

With all things considered, Jeff is kinda the last person that Jared wants to break off from the party with right now but he can’t exactly say that without being rude.  Jared gives Jensen a quick glance and he gets a thin smile in response which is Jensen-speak for “Quit worrying.  I’m fine,” so he takes the hint and follows Jeff to the bar.

The wait staff is a little overwhelmed with the size of the crowd they’ve got that night so the two of them are forced to wait a bit while their drinks are being made.

“You’ve got a good bunch there, kid” Jeff says, standing shoulder to shoulder with him at the bar.

“Thanks.”

“Not that there isn’t room to up your game a little.  Have you given any thought to what I said about taking on an apprentice?”

Jared grits his teeth.  “Not really.”

There’s the old Jeff he remembers.  Always with that condescending edge.  Every word of his praise tempered with a qualifier or a suggestion that makes it clear Jared isn’t quite meeting his standards.  Jared used to internalize it all when he was younger, berating himself for all his shortcomings that Jeff was all too quick to point out.  It hurt but at least it was attention. Preferable to the times when Jeff just ignored him altogether as if their relationship really began and ended with the titles of mentor and mentee.  He didn’t even realize how twisted and one-sided their arrangement was until after Jeff ended it.  For a long time afterward he carried those insecurities and that heartbreak with him, thinking it was all his fault.  Now as a grown man he’s finding it a bitter pill to swallow.

Jeff carries on obliviously as if he hadn’t said anything. 

“I can maybe hang out a few more days and help you find one,” he offers.  “I’ve got a real eye for potential.  I trained you up right, didn’t I?”  He laughs and puts his arm around Jared’s shoulders, either not noticing Jared’s flinch or choosing to ignore it.  “We always made a good team, didn’t we kid?”

“I’m not a kid anymore,” Jared says pointedly, shrugging off his arm and taking a step back.

“No, you’re right.  I’m sorry, you’re not a kid.  I guess I can’t help thinking of you that way,” Jeff responds.  He leans closer, swallowing up the space Jared just opened between them.  “Been thinking about you a lot lately, Jay.  How things used to be.”  The hand that had been on Jared’s shoulder is suddenly groping at his ass and Jeff is pulling in him close as if he has the right to.

“What the fuck?” Jared shouts, pushing him back angrily.  “Where the hell do you get off thinking you can do that?”

They’re interrupted by a crash somewhere behind them like someone just knocked over a chair and then suddenly Jensen is right there, grabbing Jeff by the collar of his shirt.  He doesn’t say a word because really his doesn’t have to.  The crack of his fist connecting with Jeff’s face gets his message across clearly enough.

Jeff is knocked back for a second but he comes up swinging.  “You little piece of shit!”

The punch he throws at Jensen catches him right in the eye, leaving a shallow cut on his cheek from Jeff’s wedding ring and the promise of a fairly impressive shiner.  They trade more hits, knocking over bar stools and sending the surrounding patrons scattering. 

Jared is shouting at the both of them to stop, trying to grab a hold of Jensen without getting caught in the crossfire himself. 

Chris, Chad, and Misha appear out of the crowd of on-lookers that’s collected around them, drawn over by the commotion.  With their help, Jared is finally able to get the two of them separated.  The owner of the restaurant is there, threatening to call the cops on them if they don’t get out. 

“Get him out of here!” Jared yells, pointing towards Jeff who’s struggling against Chris and Chad’s hold on him like he’s not willing to give up the fight anytime soon. 

Jared’s got his arms around Jensen but it’s more to hold him up than hold him back with the way Jensen is sagging against him.

Chris and Chad together muscle Jeff towards to door while he continues cursing a blue streak and threatening to kick Jensen’s ass. 

Danneel pushes past Misha who’s busy trying to reason with the restaurant owner.  She comes to an abrupt halt when she reaches them and her hand flies to her mouth in shock.  “Oh Jensen!  Your hand!”

It’s then that Jared glances down, getting a close look at Jensen for the first time since the brawl broke out.  He's cradling his right arm close to his body like a broken wing, his left hand hovering shakily over his right fist to shield it.  From his angle, all that Jared can see of the fist is that it’s covered with blood from the open cuts on Jensen’s knuckles and it’s swelling up fast.

“Jen, listen to me.  How bad is it?”

Jensen looks up at him, squinting through his good eye.  “I think I need a hospital.”

Fuck.  For Jensen to say that it’s got to be pretty damn bad.

“Dani, grab Misha and go get my car,” Jared tells her, digging his keys out of his pocket.  She dashes off to do just that while Jared gingerly helps him through the crowd, using his size to shield Jensen from being jostled and causing him anymore pain.

 “I’ve got you, Jen,” he says, keeping his voice as calm as possible. “Everything’s going to be okay.”


	3. Chapter 3

The emergency room at St. David’s is packed so they have to wait about two hours before the nurses can get Jensen into an exam room, and then another twenty minutes after that until they finally see a doctor.  Jared spends the time helping Jensen fill out the various forms that are thrust at him by the hospital staff.  With half of his face covered in an ice pack given to him by the triage nurse and his right hand swollen and radiating pain, Jensen can’t do much other than fire out short answers to the questions asked of him through clenched teeth.  Jared holds onto his good hand, rubbing the freckled skin across the top of it with his thumb.  It’s a little thing but it’s soothing, for himself as much as it is for Jensen. 

Jensen seems to get that somehow.  He lifts their joined hands to his lips and gives Jared’s knuckles a kiss, only wincing a little at the pain that the movement causes him.

By the time the doctor shows up and assesses the damage, it’s getting pretty late and everyone is worn out.  He scribbles some notes on Jensen’s chart and determines that thankfully while the bruising around Jensen’s eye is ugly there’s nothing fractured underneath it.  None of Jensen’s cuts need stitches but he will need to go in for x-rays to see just how bad the injury to his hand is.  Chris takes Danneel home after making Jared promise to call one of them when he learns anything new.  Then when Jensen is taken away to be X-rayed, Jared is gently but firmly made to wait in one of the visitor rooms by Jensen’s nurse, Sophia.  Luckily he has Chad and Misha to keep him company.  Well, Misha.  Chad quickly disappears, leaving to go follow Sophia around as she works with little hearts in his eyes.

Jared is anxious about Jensen’s hand but he can’t shake the low simmer of adrenaline and anger that’s still coursing through his system from the fight.  What the fuck had Jeff been thinking?  Jared never sent out any kind of signals that he wanted Jeff or that being grabbed liked that would be okay.  He can’t think of anything he might have done even unintentionally that could have been misconstrued in that way.  Jeff must have just assumed that Jared would fall all over himself trying to please him the moment that he made his intentions clear.  Just like the old days, huh?  Well, _fuck_ that. 

And Jensen!  Jensen must have lost his damn mind going after Jeff like that.  Like Jared was some damsel in distress and couldn’t handle the situation himself. 

“Jay, could you please stop thinking so loud.  You’re hurting my ears.”

“What?”  Jared looks over at Misha who’s sitting next to him and watching the dark expression on his face with sympathetic eyes.  “Sorry.  Long night, you know?”

“Yeah.”  Misha nods.  “Want to talk about it?”

Jared shrugs, a little unsure of how much he really wants to share.  “It’s just been kinda stressful with Jensen being gone for a week and then Jeff showing up like this.  We really haven’t gotten a chance to talk about it but I know it bothers him.”

“Jealousy can put a strain on even the strongest of relationships,” Misha comments sagely.

“He doesn’t have any reason to be jealous,” Jared huffs in frustration.  “I don’t want anything from Jeff anymore.  And besides, Jensen knows that I’d never cheat on him.”

“Maybe,” Misha concedes.  “But logic doesn’t always apply to how people process things like this.  You might have nothing going on with Jeff _now_ but that doesn’t change what happened in the _past_.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, I don’t know Jeff very well but he seems like a very…domineering personality.”

“He’s a selfish self-involved asshole, Misha,” Jared says with a snort.  “You can say it.”

“Alright.  He’s a selfish self-involved asshole.  Come to think of it, Justin was too to be honest.  Wasn’t he?”

Jared thinks about Justin Hartley, the guy he dated after Jeff, and he can’t really disagree.  Sure they were different in a lot of ways.  For all his faults, Justin wasn’t as neglectful or as cold with him as Jeff was, but personality wise the description fits them both fairly well. 

Misha takes Jared’s silence as a yes.  “Quite the pattern you had going there,” he points out.  “Until Jensen, that is.  How would you feel if you had to watch Jensen be with someone like that instead of you?”

Jared tries to imagine it and feels a sickening twist tearing through him.  “Like someone was scooping my heart out with a spoon.”

“Okay.  So maybe Jensen is just reacting to the memories of that feeling coming back at him all over again.  It’s understandable, don’t you think?”

Jared bites his lip, thinking about the mark that Jensen left on the back of his shoulder earlier that night.  The way he grabbed him and touched him so possessively.  It was rough but it was ten times more loving than it had ever been with Jeff even on their best day.  Everything that Jensen did was done with as much attention to Jared’s pleasure as it was for his own.  Still, it was out of character for him to be so aggressive like that.  If Misha’s right it does help explain why Jensen acted the way that he did. 

“Excuse me, Jared?”

Jared looks up to see Sophia walking towards them with purpose in her stride and Chad in tow.  Immediately he gets to his feet, anxious to hear if she has news about Jensen.  “Hi, um yes that’s me.  So what’s the verdict?”

“Your friend has a spiral fracture of the 4th and 5th metacarpals,” she says.  “That’s his ring finger and his pinky.  His doctor asked me to let you know that he’s going to be a while longer.  With multiple fractures of this kind he’ll need a hard cast to immobilize his fingers so the bones will set properly and stay protected from further injury while they’re healing.  Once they’ve set the cast you’ll be able to take him home.”

“But his hand is going to be okay, right?  It’s his right one so he kind of needs it,” Jared says, his words coming out in a babbling rush.  “He’s been singing with our friend’s band and he plays a little guitar.  Mostly he just sings cause that’s kinda his thing.  He’s really really good.  But he’s been practicing on the guitar too and he’s been getting pretty good at it.  It’s important to him.”

“Jared, relax,” Sophia says in a firm but calm tone.  She seems completely unfazed by Jared’s anxious rambling like she deals with this kind of thing all the time.  “It will be four to six weeks before he’s finished healing and we know anything for certain but as long as Jensen follows all of the doctor’s instructions to the letter he should be just fine.  Dr. Kim is very good at what he does, trust me.”  She gives him a reassuring wink.  “I’ll come back and get you when they’re finished setting the cast and you can see him, okay?”

Jared breathes a sigh of relief.  “Thanks, Sophia.  I really appreciate it.” 

Chad is beaming down at her from just over her shoulder like she’s the most impressive thing he’s ever seen.  He’s so distracted that he doesn’t move when she turns to leave so Sophia ends up nearly tripping over him.  She gives an exasperated shake of her head but she’s smiling when she walks away.

“Gentlemen, I think I’m in love,” Chad announces with a dopey grin on his face.

Jared laughs, thinking that it feels pretty good to now after the night he’s had.  “Oh man.  I’ve heard that one before.”

“Shut up, this is different,” Chad says, dismissing Jared’s skepticism with a wave of his hand.  “She’s the one!  I feel it this time.”

“What do you think, Mish?” Jared asks him.

Misha sits back in his chair and takes a considering look towards the hospital doors that Sophia just went through.  “I think she’s intelligent, beautiful, and from all appearances so far a very nice, very caring person.”  Then he looks up at Chad.  “You don’t have a snowball’s chance in hell, my friend.”

~~~

When Jared finally gets in to see Jensen, Jensen’s right hand and wrist are encased in a thick cast with only his thumb and his index finger free to move.  He looks as white as the hospital sheet he’s laying on except for the colorful collection of bruises over the left side of his face.  He sits up when Jared walks in, swinging his legs over the side of the bed.

“There you are,” he says.  “Let’s get out of here, okay?  I fucking hate these places.”

“Whoa whoa whoa, hold on!”  Jared puts a hand on his shoulder to stop him from getting up.  “You’ve got to talk to the doctor first and listen – _actually listen_ to what he tells you.  Then I’ll take you home.”

Jensen grimaces but he doesn’t say anything.  There’s a pained look in his eyes that makes Jared ache for him in sympathy.

He takes a seat in the chair next to Jensen’s bed.  “Does it hurt?”

“Like a bitch,” Jensen replies tersely.  “They wanted to give me something but I told them I didn’t want anything.  I _can’t_.”  He looks at Jared and his chin quivers almost imperceptibly.  “I don’t want that shit in my body.  I can’t go through that again.”  He glances away quickly but not before Jared sees the wet shine of his eyes.

Jared can feel a lump forming in his throat and he swallows it back.  He can practically see the anxiety and the fear in every facet of Jensen’s body language and it scares the crap out of him.  He knows that Jensen’s thinking about his time in rehab and everything he went through trying to get and stay clean. 

“Hey, it’s okay,” he says, trying to sound like it’s no big deal.  “So you have to tough this thing out without the hard stuff.  We’ll just stock up on the Extra Strength Tylenol.  You can do it, I know you can.”

Jensen lets out a shaky breath and gives him a little half-smile.  “Thanks for that.”  He looks up and locks eyes with Jared.  “I’m sorry, Jay.  I just totally lost it.  When I saw that fucking prick put his hands on you…”  He trails off with a shake of his head, the muscle of his jaw tensing.

“I could have handled it myself you know,” Jared points out petulantly.  “I’m bigger than he is now.  Bigger than you too in case you haven’t noticed.”

Jensen lets out a derisive snort and rolls his eyes.  “Okay for the record, you’re not _that_ much bigger than me.”  Then his expression changes, becoming much more serious.  “But you are a much better person.  You’d never have hurt him, Jay, because you couldn’t hurt anyone like that.  That guy has had it coming for a long long time.  I’m sorry I caused a scene and that you got caught in the middle of it but I’m not sorry that I hit him.”

And Jared really doesn’t know what to say to that.  He probably should still be angry with Jensen but he just can’t manage it.  Especially when he’s hurting like this.  In his own way, Jensen was doing what he thought was right.  As misguided as it was. 

Finally Jared just shakes his head and sighs.  “You’re impossible, you know that?  What am I going to do with you?”

Jensen smiles weakly.  “Take me home?”

~~~

When Jared finally does get Jensen home it’s about two in the morning.  He has to bodily block Harley and Sadie from jumping all over Jensen as they eagerly try to investigate all the strange hospital smells on him.  Jensen settles down on the couch and Sadie sniffs at his cast, whining pitifully until he scratches her behind the ears with his good hand and assures her that he’s alright.

Jared kicks off his shoes and sits on the edge of the coffeetable to help Jensen out of his.  “You tired?” he asks, chucking the shoes one at a time in the general direction of the entryway.  Harely barks once and immediately chases after them but loses interest when Jared doesn’t seem to want to play.

“Yeah, I am kind of tired but I don’t think I can sleep right now,” Jensen says, rubbing his eyes.

“Is the ibuprofen helping at all?”  Jared had explained the situation to Dr. Kim who had been happy to send them home with prescription-strength ibuprofen to take the edge off of Jensen’s discomfort.

“A little.”  Jensen stretches out lengthwise on the couch and rests his injured hand on the cushion behind his head.

Jared flips the TV on and insinuates himself between Jensen and the back of the couch with some difficulty and some exasperated noises from Jensen.  He’s not satisfied until he’s curled himself around the side of Jensen’s body with his head pillowed on top of Jensen’s chest.  Snuggling into the warmth and the comfort of that contact, it immediately eases all of the tension inside of him.  This is really how he’d wanted to spend Jensen’s first night home all along.

“I’m not actually a teddy bear, you know.” Jensen says, smoothing his hand over Jared’s hair.

Jared ignores his comment and is quiet while Jensen fumbles with the remote left-handed and flips through the channels.  He thinks about what Misha said and about how Jensen must be feeling with all of this and he knows it’s time - past time really, to clear the air.

“You know you have nothing to be jealous about, right?” he begins, absently playing with the folds of Jensen’s t-shirt.  He can feel Jensen tense up as soon as the words are out of his mouth.  “I’d never do anything to hurt you like that.”

Jensen sets the remote down next to them and lays his hand gently on Jared’s back.  “I know you wouldn’t.”

“I don’t even think about him like that anymore.  I don’t know how I ever did.”

Jensen is silent long enough that Jared starts to think he’s going to have to press him for more, but then he feels the rise of Jensen’s chest as he takes a deep breath and Jared decides to be patient and let him get there on his own.

“I’m not like him, Jay,” Jensen says haltingly.  “I look at him and I look at me and…it makes me wonder if maybe there’s something you wish could be different.  If there’s something I’m not giving you that you need?”

Jared heart lurches at the naked insecurity he hears in Jensen’s voice.  He rises up to his elbows with a start and looks Jensen in the eye, willing him to understand.  “Listen to me.  I don’t want you to be like him.  Not ever.  I put up with his shit because I was young and naive and I didn’t know that I was worth more than what little fucked up attention he ever gave me.  I thought it was love but it _wasn’t_.  I was toy to him.  _This_ is the real thing.  You and me.”  He kisses Jensen softly, careful not to hurt the tender skin near his mouth where Jeff struck him.  “You’re everything I need, Jen.  Everything I could ever want.”

Jensen looks into his eyes with such intense love that it nearly takes Jared’s breath away.  Then Jensen’s kissing him back, gently at first – almost worshipful.  Soon it builds, gathering with emotion and heat until Jared can’t take it anymore.  He tears away from Jensen’s lips to suck hungry kisses down the column of his neck.  Jensen squirms underneath him in response, rucking up the hem of his t-shirt to expose a few inches of his bare stomach.  Jared slides down his body to kiss the pale flat plane of it and pushes the shirt up higher until he can get his mouth on Jensen’s left nipple. 

Jensen levers his upper body up into the feel of it as Jared draws the tight bud between his teeth and then suddenly he hisses in pain.

Jared freezes immediately and looks up at him.  “Am I hurting you?”

“Fuck.  No.  A little.”  Jensen drags his left hand through his hair, mussing it up a bit.  His lips are rubbed pink and his eyes are dark with lust.  “I don’t care.  I don’t want you to stop.”

Jared can feel Jensen’s erection pressing into his thigh and he just _wants_ it so bad.  He wants to take and he loves that Jensen so clearly wants him to.

“Okay, okay.  Just lie still for me.” 

He shifts to hover over Jensen one-handed on his knees while with his free hand he opens Jensen’s jeans and then his own, pulling the hard lengths of their cocks out and lining them up.  He takes them both in hand and strokes, rubbing the velvety skin of Jensen’s cock against his as his grinds his hips forward. 

Jensen moans and grabs a hold of Jared’s hair, pulling his mouth in closer for a searing kiss. 

As much as Jared wants to let Jensen kiss him until they’re both dizzy with it, he suspects that it hurts Jensen more than he’s letting on by the sharp intake of breath he takes when their lips part.  When Jensen goes for him again, Jared ducks his head and latches onto the sensitive spot just underneath Jensen’s left ear.

Jensen makes a little grunt in this throat and precome blurts from the slit of his cock, slicking the drag and slide motion of Jared rubbing against him.

Jared speeds up his hand, chasing the orgasm from his body with a demanding rhythm.  He wants to lose himself in Jensen and make Jensen lose himself in the undertow of it too.

Jensen tenses underneath him, his muscles contracting until the climax rips out of him like the snap of a slingshot.  He moans loudly and shoots his release over Jared’s cock and the tight grip of his fist. 

The warm wetness ratchets the sensation of Jensen’s hard flesh against Jared’s own to a whole other level.  Jared feels his body jerk hard and spill, a wave of pleasure hitting him full-force.  He watches Jensen watching him as he comes, his heart pounding and his chest heaving with every gasping breath.  It’s a certain kind intimacy that is so far above the physical that he can’t imagine sharing it with anyone else.

As he starts to come down from it all, he kisses the heart tattooed across Jensen’s chest.  He can taste the salt of Jensen’s sweat and smell the heady scent of sex on him.  For some primal reason it’s immensely satisfying.

Smiling like the cat who caught the canary, he pulls Jensen’s shirt back down into place and lowers his body to curl against Jensen’s again, not bothering to zip either of them up.  They’re both messy with come and a bit too sensitive yet to do anything other than lie there and try to catch their breaths. 

Jared is just thinking to himself of how he might be able to rig a garbage bag around Jensen’s cast in order to get him into the shower, maybe offering him some company in there as well, when Jensen speaks up.

“Can I ask you one thing?”

“Anything,” Jared replies

“Do you think I broke Jeff’s nose?  I thought I did.  I really hope so.”

Jared laughs in spite of himself.  He pictures Jeff’s face as Chris and Chad dragged him away.  He looked just about as bruised and battered as Jensen did and there was a sizable amount of blood on his face.  No telling exactly where it was coming from but either way Jeff is definitely going to be feeling it for a while.

“You got him good, babe,” he says, indulging Jensen’s ego.  He closes his eyes, listening to the beat of Jensen’s heart underneath his ear.

Jared makes a promise to himself in that moment that he’s not going to let it go this time.  He might have let Jeff walk all over him when he was younger but that was then.  He’s not going to let Jeff slink off to LA to lick his wounds without confronting him about what he did. 

Jared wants closure this time and he’s going to get it.


	4. Chapter 4

The next morning Jared wakes up before dawn even though he’d gotten precious little sleep the night before once he and Jensen had finally gotten to bed.  He has an uncomfortable task ahead of him but it has to be done and he doesn’t want to miss his chance.

He feeds the dogs, goes through an abridged version of his usual morning yoga, and gets in a quick shower.  By the time he walks back into the dark of their bedroom, Jensen is just beginning to stir.

Jared starts to get dressed before Jensen is fully awake.  Since they moved in together, Jared’s learned that the longer he lingers around in just his towel after he showers the greater the likelihood will be that the both of them will end up right back in bed.  As much as he’d like that, he really can’t afford that long of a delay this morning.

“Good morning.  How are you feeling?” he says to Jensen as he pulls on a clean pair of jeans.

Jensen grumbles something unintelligible and rolls over onto his stomach, pressing his face deeper into his pillow.

“That good, huh?  How about I get the coffee started for you?”

Jensen perks up a little at that.  He raises his head up, and squints at Jared out of one eye.  His hair is a half-flattened mess of dark blonde spikes and the bruises on his face have fully bloomed into an array of purples and a sickly shade of yellow.  “Going somewhere?” he asks, his voice rough from lack of proper sleep.

Jared can’t resist.  There might be a human being on earth that could resist a sleep-rumbled Jensen Ackles but if there is he sure as hell isn’t it.

He gives in and goes over to the bed, climbing on top of Jensen and nuzzling his face into the side of Jensen’s neck.  Maybe with the protection of the nice thick down comforter between them he’ll be safe enough for a short cuddle without it turning into something which will make him late.

Jensen groans, exaggerated and playful.  “You’re gonna crush me to death.”

“You love it.”

“Sure.  You explain that to Dr. Kim when you’ve finished breaking all the rest of the bones in my body.”

Jared rises up off of him a bit.  “I’m not really hurting you, am I?” he asks worriedly.

Jensen lets out a low chuckle and twists his body around until he’s lying on his back, looking up at Jared with a wicked smile.  “If I lied and said yes how would you make it up to me?”

Jared rolls his eyes.  “You’re unbelievable.”

“You mean adorable.”

“I mean incorrigible.”

“I love it when you use big words.”  Jensen lets out a little hum of pleasure and leans up to kiss him, finishing it off with a light nip of Jared’s bottom lip.  “You know, I’m going to need you to be my right hand for a while.  How’s about giving me a _hand_ with something right now?”

Jensen wiggles his eyebrows and makes a lewd gesture with his good hand to demonstrate even though Jared knows exactly what he’s getting at.

“You’re about as subtle as a train wreck,” Jared says with an exasperated roll of his eyes.

Completely unfazed, Jensen grins at him and winds his finger around a stray lock of Jared’s hair.  “You didn’t answer my original question.  Where do you think you’re going this early without me?”

Jared sighs.  He knew this was coming.  “You’re not going to like it.”

Jensen arches an eyebrow at him expectantly.

“I’m going to go see Jeff,” Jared admits.  “I need to set some things straight with him before he leaves town.”

Jensen’s face falls and his playful mood evaporates away.  “Oh.”

Jared watches the change come over him and it makes him even more resolute.  He’s not going to let Jeff Morgan be a black cloud over their heads any longer.

“I’m sorry but I have to go.”  He drops a kiss to Jensen’s forehead before he climbs up off the bed and snatches his CBGB t-shirt out of the dresser drawer.  “I want to catch him at his hotel before he leaves for the airport.”

Jensen sits up to lean against the headboard and watches as Jared puts it on.  “How do you even know where’s he’s staying?”

“He didn’t.”  Jared goes over to the closet and picks out a black and white flannel, sliding his arms into it and leaving it hanging unbuttoned.  He was hoping that Jensen wasn’t going to ask that.  “There’s only one place in town he likes to stay anyway.”

He doesn’t elaborate any more on how he knows that exactly and Jensen, thank god, is smart enough not to press for details.

After Karen had thrown him out, Jeff had stayed at the Hotel Andaluz for a couple of weeks until he got an apartment sorted out for himself.  It was right about the time that he and Jared had first started, in large part because his marriage was essentially over by that point and his wife had stopped bothering about his comings and goings.  Jared spent many a night in that hotel with him and he had a strong hunch that that’s where Jeff will be now.

Jared sits down on the edge of the bed to put on his shoes and socks.  “I’m just going to go over there and have a talk with him.”  He turns slightly to look back at Jensen.  “You said you trusted me,” he reminds him gently.  “Haven’t changed your mind have you?”

Jensen stares right back at him and answers without hesitation.  “No, I haven’t.”

“Thanks.”  Jared shows him a soft smile.  He reaches out and gives Jensen’s foot an affectionate pat.  “Now is there anything that I can do for you before I go?”

“Nah, I’m good.”  Jensen waves him off.  “I’ll manage.”

“Alright.”  Jared stands and collects his keys, his wallet, and his favorite black knit beanie from the top of the dresser.  “I have to go open up the shop when I’m done but I’ll come by around lunchtime to check in on you.”

“I’m not a complete invalid.  You don’t need to mother-hen me, Jay.” Jensen says with a frown.

“It’s exactly what you would do for me so don’t even try to pretend it’s not.” 

“Yeah, whatever,” Jensen mumbles.  “C’mere.”  He leans over and awkwardly grabs for Jared’s hand with his left, tugging him closer for one last kiss.  It’s short, just a quick sign of his affection, but it helps to ground them both.  “Go do what you gotta do,” he says, releasing Jared’s hand.

Those few words of support from Jensen create a warm feeling in Jared’s chest that he takes with him as he goes.

~~~

When he gets to the hotel it’s still early enough that the lobby is fairly quiet.  Jared’s footfalls echo slightly as he crosses over the expansive cream-colored tile floor.  It feels strange to be there so many years after the last time and under such different circumstances.  He walks past the large reception desk which is accented on either side by giant vases of flowers.  There’s only one girl working the counter as the usual rush around checkout time won’t reach its peak for another few hours yet.

Off to one side of the lobby there is a restaurant with enormous windows along one wall that look out over a small garden courtyard just outside.  Jared heads in there and takes a seat with a clear view of the main entrance.  There are only two other diners inside eating breakfast, both of which look like business travelers with their noses in their Blackberries. 

A waiter comes by as soon as Jared sits down.  “Good morning, my name is Andrew and I’ll be your server.  Can I start you off with some coffee or some juice?”

“I’ll take a cappuccino and a cup of black coffee for my friend when he arrives,” Jared tells him.  “He should be down shortly.”

The waiter nods and leaves him with a couple of menus while Jared fishes his cell out of his pocket and dials Jeff’s number.  He still has it programmed into his phone from when he and Jeff were working out the details of transferring over ownership of the tattoo shop.  At the time, they’d been able to work out the deal with no real issues on either end.  Jared had thought that when the deal was finalized it would pretty much be the last time he’d hear from Jeff.  It’s almost hard for him to believe that now, a little over a year later, he finds himself calling Jeff again for such a drastically different reason.

Jeff doesn’t answer on the first call so Jared tries him again.  When he does pick up his voice is gravelly with sleep like he just woke up.

“Jared?”

“Yeah, it’s me,” Jared replies.

“What are you doing calling me this early?” Jeff asks, sounding annoyed and confused.  “What are you doing call me at all?”

“How about you come downstairs and join me for breakfast and we’ll talk about it.”

“Downstairs?”

“I’m in the restaurant of your lobby,” Jared informs him, taking a great deal of pleasure in the surprise he hears in Jeff’s tone.  “You better hurry up or else your coffee will get cold.”

He hangs up without waiting for Jeff to respond just as his cappuccino arrives.

Seven minutes later, Jeff walks into the restaurant looking like hell.  The t-shirt and jeans that he’s wearing look wrinkled as if they’d just been pulled out of his suitcase and the sunglasses that he’s sporting are doing very little to hide the collection of bruises on his face.  As he gets closer to the table, Jared can see that he’s also got a cut on his lip and one on the bridge of his nose where there’s a considerable amount of swelling.  Looks like Jensen did break his nose after all.

Jeff takes the chair across from him, landing heavily in the seat with a badly disguised grunt of pain.  “What the hell is this, Jay?” he demands.  “I’m really not in the fucking mood for games.”

“I promise you, I’m not playing,” Jared tosses back easily.  “Drink your coffee.”

Jeff narrows his eyes and mutters something under his breath but he takes the cup in front of him and sips at it carefully.

Jared waits patiently while he drinks, waving off the waiter with a smile to tell him that they don’t need anything else at the moment.

“Where’s your boyfriend?” Jeff asks, setting down his cup.  “Did he send you here to apologize for him or something?”

“Yeah, right,” Jared scoffs.  “I think you know Jensen a little better than that.”

“I used to,” Jeff throws back.  “I don’t know who the hell that was last night but that’s not the guy that used to work for me.  That guy knew his fucking place.”

“Knew his place?” Jared says incredulously.  He can feel himself getting angrier and angrier with each passing second.  “Who do you think you are?  You’re not his boss anymore.  You’re not even his friend.  And you know what?  You’re no friend of mine either.”

Jeff looks a little taken aback at that.  “What are you getting so worked up for?  You were there, you saw what happened.  I didn’t do anything!  He just came out of nowhere and sucker-punched me!”

“You didn’t _do_ anything?!”  Jared hears his own voice starting to get a little too loud in the quiet restaurant and he glances around at the businessmen at the other table who are shooting looks of irritation his way.  His blood is close to boiling but he manages to force himself to cool off before he continues.  “You know exactly what you did.  You’re in the dog house with Karen again so you decided to take off instead of face your problems.  And what do you do?  You come all the way to Austin on some bullshit excuse about a car so you can try to get in my pants again.  Well I’d like to say that I’m flattered, man,” Jared says, his words dripping sarcasm.  “That’s a lot of trouble to go through for a booty call.  But I know it’s not really about _me_.  It never was.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Jeff says flatly.  The tone of his voice suggests the exact opposite.

“I think you do.  I think you were looking for a distraction.”  Jared leans forward with his elbows on the table, lowering his voice to a deadly calm.  “Someone to fuck around with a little bit who won’t ask too much from you.  Won’t cramp your style.  Will do just about anything you want them to.  That’s not easy to come by on short notice unless you pay for it and I know your ego would never let you sink quite that low.” 

He thinks about how Jeff used to make him beg for it.  Call him a slut and make him crawl on his knees.  Make him lick Jeff’s cock clean after he finished fucking Jared punishingly hard.  It all felt so dirty and degrading to him because through all of it there was never one word of affection.  He used to tell himself that it was just a role he was playing for Jeff’s sake because he loved him but Jared was never shown that love in return and the game never seemed to end.  The sickest part is that if Jeff hadn’t tossed him aside there’s a good chance he still might be living with it.

Jeff rips off his sunglasses and leans in towards Jared, staring him down with rage glimmering in his eyes.  “That’s not-“

“How things used to be?” Jared quotes, finishing his sentence for him.  “That’s what you said when you had your hand on my ass last night, wasn’t it?  Let me refresh your memory on exactly how things _really_ used to be.  You ignored me most of the time.  Then you weren’t ignoring me you were either tearing me down or telling me to bend over.  You never gave a shit about _me_ , Jeff.  I might as well have been a blow up doll.”

“You ungrateful bastard.  How can you say that?”  Jeff grinds his words out through clenched teeth.  His face and neck are flushed with outrage.  “I gave you half of my business, didn’t I?”

 “You _gave_ me?”  Jared grips the edge of the table to keep himself from proving Jensen wrong and punching Jeff right in the face.  “I _earned_ it.  I busted my ass for you!  I worked for you longer and harder than anyone else.  _My_ talent is what made Morgan’s into what it was while you messed around with your damn hotrods.  You didn’t _give_ me anything!  You left!”  Jared can still taste the sharp bitterness of that abandonment even now after all these years.  “You left me holding the bag and I kept things running because I love that goddamn place more than you ever did.”

“I don’t need to listen to this,” Jeff says, rising a bit in his chair like he’s about to leave.

“Sit the fuck down,” Jared says with a growl.  “I’m not done.”

Jeff stops where he is, eyes flashing wide in surprise at the warning in Jared’s voice.  He stays right where he is.

“I’ll make this short,” Jared tells him.  “Let’s put the past aside for a minute and just focus on last night.  You disrespected me and you disrespected Jensen.  I may have been your little doormat back when I was younger but a lot has changed since then.  I don’t keep toxic people in my life anymore.  So from now on, I want you to stay away from my shop and stay away from me.”

“You were right about one thing.”  Jeff says as he stands up to leave for good this time.  “I _don’t_ give a shit.  I don’t give a shit about you or merry band of rejects and losers.  This is how you want to repay me for everything that I did for you?  Well then fine.  I don’t fucking need you anyway.”  He shoves his chair back in against the table, making the silverware rattle.  “I’m sorry I ever wasted my time on you.”

Jeff walks out of the restaurant and Jared watches him leave feeling as if a huge weight has been lifted from his shoulders.  He never really expected Jeff to apologize or to even acknowledge his side of the story.  It wasn’t about that.  Jared had gotten his chance to say what he had to say and get it all off of his chest.  On top of that, he’d put a match to that bridge between the person he’d been with Jeff and the man he was now.  He isn’t that insecure young kid anymore.  He knows now what real love is.

 “Excuse me, sir,” Andrew the waiter says as he approaches the table.  He glances towards the door that Jeff just stormed out of and then back at Jared.  “Is everything alright?”

Jared smiles.  After today, he’s never going to have Jeff Morgan darkening his doorstep again and the sheer relief of it feels pretty fucking good.

“Everything’s great, Andrew.  Really great.”

~~~

Jared walks out of the hotel and into the parking lot feeling cleansed like he just walked out of a confessional booth.  He stops for a moment next to his car and just leans against the side of it with his eyes closed and face tipped up towards the sun.  He drinks in the warm rays and feels deeply satisfied that he accomplished what he set out that morning to do.  He can’t wait to see Jensen later and tell him how it went.  Especially the part about Jeff’s nose.

Jared’s just about to go for his keys and get in the car when he hears a rattling sound and then the low _shhhh_ sound of someone using a can of spray paint.  He looks around and spots a young guy with black hair wearing baggy jeans and a red hoodie.  He’s marking up the sidewall of a brick building across lot from where Jared’s standing.  Curiosity has Jared wandering over to see what’s going on.

As he gets closer, the guy turns around and catches sight of him.  Immediately he drops the can of paint in his hand and starts backing away with large fearful eyes.

“Look man, I’m not doing anything wrong.  I don’t want any trouble,” he says, holding his hands in the air like Jared is about to hold him up at gunpoint or something.

Jared is confused for a second until he realizes what he must look like to the kid.  Between his size and the tattoos peeking out from under the rolled up sleeves of his flannel he must look kind of intimidating.  He’s gotten some strange looks before from a few other people but this is the first time that someone seems to be confusing him for some kind of street thug.

“Hey, hey, it’s cool!” Jared says holding out his hands in a gesture of truce.  “I’m not going to hurt you.  Jesus Christ!  I’m not trying to mug you or anything.  I just wanted to come over and say hi.”

“Oh.”  The guy puts his hands down and looks terribly embarrassed.  “Wow, I’m sorry.  I feel like shit now.” 

“Don’t worry about.”  Jared offers him his hand.  “Hi, I’m Jared.”

“Hi, I’m Osric.”

“Cool name.”  Jared shoves his hands in his pockets, unconsciously slouching a bit and making himself look smaller than he is.  “So did you really think I was mugging you out here in broad daylight?”

“Kind of.  I don’t know,” Osric says a little bashfully.  “I didn’t think you were going to mug me.  Maybe just beat me up?”  He shrugs and picks up his paint can.  “I just moved here from Vancouver to live with my uncle and he told me that he’s had his store vandalized twice.”  He gestures towards the wall of the building that reads Chau’s Food Market in faded and chipped paint underneath a myriad of spray painted scribbles and tags.  “I thought you might be one of those guys coming back to pound on me for painting over their stuff.  Can you really blame me?  I mean, no offense but you look like you could probably break me in half if you wanted to.”

“Dude, you’ve been watching too many movies,” Jared tells him.  “Texas is just like anywhere else.  There are definitely some jerk-offs but there are some good people too.  It sucks that these assholes are messing with your uncle’s store though.  Have you guys thought about putting in a security camera?  Sometimes if people just see the cameras around it makes them think twice.”

Osric shrugs his shoulders.  “We’ve got a cheap ass one for inside the store but we can’t afford one for the lot too.”

“I might be able to help you out with that,” Jared tells him.  The guy who he hired to put in the alarm at the shop owes him one anyway for talking his daughter out of getting her boyfriend’s name tattooed on her boob.  He should be able to get Osric and his uncle a good deal on some extra security.  “Do you have a pen and something to write on?” he asks.

“Um, yeah hold on.”  Osric grabs for his backpack which is leaning against the base of the wall.  He pulls a notepad and a pen out of it and hands it to Jared.

Jared flips it open looking for a blank page and he finds sketch after sketch of comic book-style superheroes.  He pauses to look at them and recognizes that there’s quite a bit of talent represented there in the creativity and the style that’s been used.  The lines are strong, the proportions are perfectly balanced, and the shading is boldly done – nothing hesitant or unsure about them. 

“Oh, that’s…those are nothing,” Osric says, reaching awkwardly for the book.  “There should be some blank pages in the back.”

Jared ignores him, continuing to flip through more of the sketches.  The subjects change.  Some of them look like they’re drawn from life while others have clearly sprung from Osric’s imagination but they’re all pretty damn good.  Really good actually.

“So you’re an artist,” he says to Osric.  “What do you do?  Graphic design?”

“Me?  No, way.  I’m not an artist,” Osric says fidgeting with the sleeve of his hoodie.  “I draw stuff sometimes but that’s it.  I’m just a cashier.”

Jared looks up at him.  “And you’re painting this mural, right?” he points out, pointing out the rough outlines Osric has made on the wall.  From the look of them it’s going to be a cornucopia of fruits and vegetables with the market’s name painted above them in fancy Victorian –style lettering.  The kid clearly has quite a range to his skills.

“Well, that’s just something I’m doing for my uncle,” Osric explains.  “He said he’d give me a couple of bucks to cover up the graffiti back here so I thought I’d make it into something…I don’t know, special.”

“Yeah, I think it’s going to be.”  Jared flips to the back of the book and writes out the name and address of the security company.  He stops then for a second, rolling the idea that’s just come to him around in his head. 

With everything that’s been going on he never got a chance to talk to Jensen about the idea of hiring an apprentice but something about this kid just seems right.  Jared can’t ignore the feeling that maybe fate had some hand in them meeting like this.  Just minutes after he closed one door there’s an opportunity put in front of him to open another.  Fate has been pretty kind to him all things considered.  It sent Jensen walking into his shop all those years ago, hadn’t it?

Jensen will probably be okay with it.  If he’s not…well, Jared has some interesting ideas on how to persuade him.  Maybe he’ll treat himself to an extra long lunch break today and try one of two of them out just for fun.  He’s got a feeling that afterwards Jensen won’t be all that hard to convince.

Jared quickly jots his info down and hands the notebook back to Osric.  “Here you go.  Check with Nate at Knox Security about the cameras and tell him that I sent you.  He’ll hook you up.”

“Thanks, man.” Osric says.  “I really appreciate it.”

“Listen, I don’t know you, but what I do know is that you _are_ an artist.  And I doubt that you want to be a cashier forever.  Am I right?”

Osric shrugs.  “Yeah.  I guess not.”

Jared points to the page. “There’s my number, and the name and address of my shop.  If you’re interested, we can talk about you maybe coming to work for me as an apprentice.  You’ll need training but I think you’ve got the goods to hack it.”

Osric squints up at him skeptically.  “An apprentice?  Exactly what kind of business are you in?”

“Well…”  Jared smiles at him, grinning from ear to ear.  “Let me ask you something, Osric.  How do you feel about tattoos?”

~ the end ~


End file.
